All Stories
Browse our complete collection of folk tales, Panchatantra stories, and moral stories from around the world.
Indian Folk Tales
The Soothsayer’s Son
Left nothing but a gloomy horoscope by his father, young Gangazara sets out to meet his fate, helped by a tiger, a snake and a rat he saved from a well.
Indian Folk Tales
The Story of Appayya
A timid Brahman is hailed as a mighty hero after a string of lucky accidents, from a hundred robbers to a lioness and a runaway horse.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal
A Brahman releases a tiger that immediately threatens to eat him. A jackal pretends to be confused and persuades the tiger to demonstrate the story inside the cage.
Indian Folk Tales
The Two Brothers
Two princes flee abuse by their stepmother and father. Magic birds predict their futures, but the younger must survive betrayal before a shared memory brings the brothers together.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Wise Jackal
Two runaway princesses find a marble palace in the jungle, and a friendly jackal promises to warn them when the ogre who owns it comes home.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why the Fish Laughed
When a fish in a basket laughs out loud at the queen, the king gives his chief minister six months to find out why, or lose his life.
Indian Folk Tales
A Lac of Rupees for a Piece of Advice
A poor Brahmin sends his wife to the king with three pieces of advice written on a scrap of paper, and tells her they are worth a lac of rupees.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
A Lesson for Kings
Two good kings, each searching for someone to tell him his faults, meet head-on in a narrow lane where neither chariot can get out of the way.
Indian Folk Tales
The Royal Thief-Catcher
A holy man in Sravasti secretly hoards his gifts under a tree, and when they vanish, the king finds the thief by asking doctors about their patients.
Turkish Folk Tales
The Bronze Ring
A gardener’s son wins a wish-granting bronze ring and a princess, loses the ring to a sorcerer, and gets it back with the help of three mice.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Keep It for the Beggar
Every night a farmer asks his wife to save some dhal soup for his breakfast, until one night an invisible someone laughs out loud at his words.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Sir Buzz
A soldier’s son pulls a thorn from a tigress’s paw and is given a box, and out jumps a tiny, bad-tempered man who can fly like a bee.